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Posts published in August 2009

JKLF opposes NAs empowerment without consent of Kashmiris

The News, Aug 31 ISLAMABAD: Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Yasin Malik has strongly opposed the government decision of empowering the Northern Areas of Pakistan and announced that opinion of the people of Kashmir is inevitable in this connection. He expressed these views while addressing a press conference in Kashmir House on Sunday. AJK Prime Minister Sardar Yaqoob Khan was also present on this occasion. He said that after 1947 Pakistan has always claimed…

PML-Q rejects new package

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) on Saturday rejected the new package for Northern Areas approved by the federal government. PML-Q’s member in the National Assembly Marvi Memon, who is in charge of the party’s Gilgit-Baltistan affairs, in a statement said the Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment and Self Governance) Order 2009, as approved by the cabinet, failed to give provisional provincial status to the region. It was also short of AJK-style self-governance, the longstanding demand of the…

Gilgit-Baltistan package termed eyewash: The Dawn, Aug 30

GILGIT/SKARDU, Aug 29: Public representatives, nationalist and progressive political groups and activists on Saturday rejected the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-governance Order, saying it is gimmick of words to perpetuate the bureaucratic rule over the region. Labour Party Pakistan Gilgit chapter chief Advocate Ehsan Ali rejected the package and said that it would increase the sense of deprivation among the people. “The real powers rest with the governor, who is President’s appointee and not answerable to…

Autonomy package for NAs approved: The Dawn, Aug 30

By Ahmad Hassan ISLAMABAD, Aug 29:The Zardari government  approved on Saturday a self-governance reforms package for the Northern Areas aimed at giving it full internal autonomy, but without the status of a province, and changed its name to Gilgit-Baltistan. The People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N and PML-Q have supported the decision, but most nationalist parties rejected the package as a ‘gimmickry of words’. They contend that the region was an integral part of Jammu and…

AJK situation: MC forward bloc, PML members to meet Nawaz

By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Aug 30 MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 29: The joint parliamentary party of Muslim Conference forward bloc (MC-F) and People’s Muslim League (PML) will meet Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday “to discuss the ongoing political situation in Azad Kashmir”. Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, MC-F chief Raja Farooq Haider said meeting would be held at the Raiwind residence of Mr Sahrif. “We will discuss political situation…

Military Aid To Pakistan: The Washington Post, Aug 30

U.S. military equipment provided and on order in response to Pakistani military requests in recent years includes the following (Source: U.S. Central Command) Helicopters 10 MI-17s delivered (refurbished, Russian-made “medium lift” troop transports) 2 Bell 412s being procured (refurbished, without gun emplacements) Night-Vision Devices 300 sets delivered 100 sets en route 200 sets in production Body Armor 6,500 plates, 1,000 sets (armor plates and vests), 1,000 helmets being procured Ammunition 112,000 rounds of 20mm delivered…

Islamabad accused of meddling in AJK affairs: By Tariq Naqash in The Dawn, Aug 23

MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 21: The ruling faction of Muslim Conference got a much needed moral boost on Friday after another constituent of the coalition government in Azad Kashmir — People’s Muslim League of Barrister Sultan Mahmood — joined hands with it warning Prime Minister Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan to conform to settled principles and decisions. At a press conference which was also attended and addressed by a representative of PML, MC-F president Raja Farooq Haider announced…

Pakistan, China sign MoU on Bunji dam in Northern Areas

HANGZHOU (China): Pakistan and China on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding for construction of Bunji dam in northern areas of Pakistan. The agreement was signed between Pakistan’s Ministry of Water and, Power and China Three Gorges Project Corporation. Chairman Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwala and Li Yang’an, signed the MoU for their respective sides. President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s ambassador in China Masood Khan and senior Chinese officials witnessed the signing ceremony. Masood Khan…

Jinnah Redux: by Sushant Sareen

New Book on Jinnah Jinnah was without doubt an exceptional man. His doggedness, his legal brilliance, his financial propriety, his sartorial elegance, his self-confidence (he once quipped “What is the Muslim league except me and my stenographer”), was all the stuff of legends. But Mr Singh’s attraction to the personality of Jinnah merely on the grounds that he was a ‘self-made man’ is somewhat strange, if not specious. This is akin to someone admiring Dawood…

Holbrooke: special briefing on his visit to Pak, Afghan, Brussels

STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN OFFICE, WASHINGTON, JULY 29 MR. CROWLEY: We have Special Representative Richard Holbrooke here back from his trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Brussels. And we thought he would be gracious with his time – to kind of give you an update on the situation in both countries, both as we deal with the current situation in Pakistan and also head towards the election in Afghanistan in about three weeks time. Richard, thanks for…